M3 Upper & Lower control arms

Note: Not responsible for any damage to you or your car, this worked on my car so will work on yours.

***This tutorial assumes you know how to get your car secured on jack stands, if in doubt do NOT attempt this DIY!

Tools Need not in pic (2 jacks if possible & block of wood, (1) for a safety catch in case jack stand fail (I saw this happen and will NEVER forget it)....safety 1st). The 2nd jack is for jacking up suspension up to ride height.

Alignment is 100% neccessary, no ifs about it! your car will ride like a POS afterwards.
I suggest coating all bolts with bolt penatrating formula, applying anti-seize to all bolts and replacing your tie-rods with these below so you only have to do a lignment once. (see link)

A shop that installed my springs cut a slot in the stud to stick a screwdriver in for leverage and did not use the correct T40 in the end. This prevented me from being able to use the correct method and the bolt was stripped on there....luckily a impact lifted it just enough so I could get a hacksaw blade under it to cut it off (lost 2 hours of time) I was a bit PO!

M3 Upper & Lower control arms compared to OEM:

Movement of the M3 Lower control arms at subframe:

Step #6: Reverse all steps (dont forget to put new leveling rod in):

M3 arms installed: (I will be replacing my Tie-rod ends also with these linked below)

FWIW, I did not have to drop my steering rack, but it really depends on how much room one needs to do the work.

I must emphasize torquing all the bolts/nuts down under full suspension load, including the bolts connecting the tension struts and wishbones to the subframe. I was chasing a clunk for several days because I did not do this on the subframe connecting bolts (only the steering knuckle nuts).

I also had a wishbone nut seize on me. Someone had put red loctite in there, and even with the T40 torx bit fitting just fine, I ended up breaking 3 torx bits. I ended up using a twin-blade cutoff wheel and sliced the nut in halfway to the threads, loosening its grip on the threads.

Nice writeup robc I suppose I should finish my Wavetrac writeup. I've gotten it done with pictures, just needs to be copy/pasted in and arranged.

I've got mine in the car from my alignment, I'll post up the specs later if rob doesn't have his.

The toe was so far in that the car wanted to turn more than it wanted to go straight. Was pretty scary driving around like that; it was so bad that it affected the camber and made the front end sit almost an inch lower than normal (I could see it in the fender)

I've got mine in the car from my alignment, I'll post up the specs later if rob doesn't have his.

The toe was so far in that the car wanted to turn more than it wanted to go straight. Was pretty scary driving around like that; it was so bad that it affected the camber and made the front end sit almost an inch lower than normal (I could see it in the fender)

That's what I would expect. Because the tie rods mount to the front of the bearing carrier (the knuckle) increasing the length of the bottom control arms will push out the bottom of the tire and give it much more negative camber and toe in. You have to increase the length of the tie rods to achieve the factory specified toe.

FWIW, I did not have to drop my steering rack, but it really depends on how much room one needs to do the work.

I must emphasize torquing all the bolts/nuts down under full suspension load, including the bolts connecting the tension struts and wishbones to the subframe. I was chasing a clunk for several days because I did not do this on the subframe connecting bolts (only the steering knuckle nuts).

I also had a wishbone nut seize on me. Someone had put red loctite in there, and even with the T40 torx bit fitting just fine, I ended up breaking 3 torx bits. I ended up using a twin-blade cutoff wheel and sliced the nut in halfway to the threads, loosening its grip on the threads.

Nice writeup robc I suppose I should finish my Wavetrac writeup. I've gotten it done with pictures, just needs to be copy/pasted in and arranged.

Aewesome, I just finished the lockdown differential kit and need a thread to reference on getting the wavetrac out...I forgot to photograpgh to much of it, perfect timing!! Suspension must be under load....VERY important indeed!

Aewesome, I just finished the lockdown differential kit and need a thread to reference on getting the wavetrac out...I forgot to photograpgh to much of it, perfect timing!! Suspension must be under load....VERY important indeed!

Yeah the c-clips were a beast. I found that it was easier using a combination of 90deg nose pliars with a LONG handle/nose and a flathead screwdriver. The 90deg bend makes grasping the eyes of the ring more stable; the 45deg ones just couldn't hold on.